Oxytropis Vicida

Tufted and stemless white to red-purple flowers open on upright stems above a compact cushion of ferny compound leaves growing from a persistent woody base. This alpine plant is found at high elevations in gravelly, well-drained locations, screes, bare slopes and alpine fellfields up to 4100m in California to Alaska and eastwards to Colorado and Quebec. It is unique within its genus by virtue of its viscid, 'sticky with glandular warts', bracts and inflorescence.